Take Care
by Reader One
Summary: Cappie meets Rusty at the Rush Week party and feels it's his duty to look after the freshman, but how much is duty and how much is just plain interest. Cappie/ Rusty, second one I've ever seen.
1. Meeting Rusty

**RE-DONE: I made a lot of mistakes in continuity. I don't want it to just like the show, but I needed to follow better. Here you are.**

**AN: Well, here I am writing another story, even though I haven't finished the other one. This though just wouldn't leave me alone. Am I the only person that thinks Cappie and Rusty should be together? Well anyway, this is the first Cappie/ Rusty thing I have ever seen, so I call dibs on the name. I'm thinking Capty or Pie-Us. Not really much you can do with it, so yeah. Well if this is well recieved I'll try to write as often as I can. if it's not, I'll still write as often as I can. Not this first, my bad, but still, you know, Dibs.  
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**I know that not everything in here is all the way according to the show, but I'm going to take some liberties. I also don't know the exact terminology for every Greek thing, so I'll just roll with what I think should be said. Also people will be OOC, hopefully not by much, but I'm just going to put it out there for everyone.**

* * *

It was that time of year again. It was Rush Week and I was ecstatic. All the parties and good times were something I always looked forward to, however the rushes were something I have come to be dismayed about. But I digress, the only problem with the parties of Rush are deciding who gets to join them and who gets kicked out. I left that up to Wade though, leaving me free to dispose of the applications.

I had heard the tell tale **THUDNK** of the watermelon clever hitting the floor, signaling the arrival of the Rush tour. I got to watch one run away in terror, and the other two brave the party in the back. One of them left for the dance floor, but the skinny one was frozen. I quickly wrapped my arm around his neck and introduced myself.

"Hey there, names Cappie, President of Kappa Tau Gamma. Sorry about all the secrecy, but the administration doesn't like parties like this during Rush. Name, home state."

"Rusty Cartwright, and uh, Illinois." I looked down at his curly hair and tried to get a look at at his face, but he was too short.

"Cartwright you say. Do you know a Casey?"

"Did she not tell anyone about me?" I assumed it was rhetorical. "She's my sister."

"I didn't know she had a brother." He gave an eye roll.

"How do you know Casey?" I thought about how to word it delicately to the youngster, trying very hard not to offend him.

"In the biblical sense." He looked confused before it clicked. "Oh! You went to church with her." Or not.

"You could say that." Before Rusty could start to say something, Beaver grabbed his drink shouting "Free beer!"

Holding Beaver in place I introduced him to the rushing freshman. "Rusty this is The Beaver, The Beaver this is Rusty."

"Oh, like the T.V. show?" I laughed as Beaver made a break from the naive teen. How bad could one person get?

"Who sent you, kiddo? Are you spying for the Dean? Anyway, c'mon there's someone else I want you to meet."

I led him over to any area surrounded by people. There was a girl laying on the bar and shots were all around her. "Rusty, say hi to the pretty lady."

"Hi." His voiced squeaked a little, but it was endearing. I started the instructions for the basic body type shot. "Okay, lick the salt off her stomach, drink the shot, and take the lime from her mouth. Got it." He nodded, while whispering S.S.L. God, they were making them dorkier and dorkier these days. I shoved the shot into a slightly shaking hand. Watched as he licked and drank. Watched as he tried to take the lime, but ended up spitting the tequila all over the poor girl. He just muttered something about not having had tequila before. The crowd and I thought it to be hilarious until the boyfriend showed up.

"Hey man! What did you just do to my girlfriend?"

"Nothing it was an accident!" I watched as the boyfriend pushed Rusty. "Seriously man, what's your problem?" i was about to diffuse the situation when Rusty took care of it himself.

"What, spitting in her face is bad, but licking salt off her stomach is acceptable?" I was impressed and I was glad when Beav threw him over the fence before he could do anymore damage. Rusty looked at his watch and grabbed my hand.

"Thanks for everything, but I've got to go!"

"The big man can't hurt you anymore."

"I know and it was great meeting you, but I've got to go." And with that he was speeding out of sight. I made a note to pick him out for a bid tomorrow.

* * *

I wandered around the party for a few hours, drinking a bit here and there. After seeing Wade who was about the only other person halfway sober I asked him to pick the last remaining Rush out and take him home. Leaving him with his orders i moved to the bar and noticed the last person I expected to be drinking standing there. I grabbed him shoulder and spun him around. He'd had more to drink than I though because he stumbled into my chest before he could catch his balance. Taking pity on him I led him over the coolers so he could sit down.

"What're you doing here? I thought you left?"

"I did, b't I saw sum'thin' I shou'dn't have. Evan tol' me to com' ov'r af'er I wus dun. I did, b't he was about to yuh kn'ow with sum gurl. It wasn' Casey. Now I haf'ta tell hur. She'll hate me, more th'an sshe alre'dy duhs. I thou'ht comin' h're mi'ht help. Can' member why though."

I was shocked. Evan was cheating on Casey. Casey's little brother was getting drunk so he wouldn't have to tell her about it. This sucked. It made me really look at him though. The curly haired, pale, scrawny, pathetic teen in front of me was horrible. It made me sad just to look at him. I made the decision quickly to take him home, it wasn't hard. I pulled him up, making sure he didn't fall over. I passed a semi-concious Beaver on my way out and told him I was taking home a Rush.

We were out of the Kappa Tau house minutes later trudging along to the dorms.

* * *

Responsibility has always been my down fall. I can never manage to fufil my duties. Be it family, dating, or school. I did try though, and I came close with Casey and the house, but I wanted to be reliable. Lame I know, but I've grown up a smidgen in the last few years. And with taking this boy home was a step in the right direction. I could leave him for Casey to deal with and watch her fall apart at his confession, but I knew it would ruin things between her and her brother. Plus Rusty seemed like he needed her in his life.

In the many years at Kappa Tau I have never been a big brother, too scared to take on the responsibility, but this year I wanted one. I wanted to be the person someone could count on, and looking at the person I was supporting I knew that I could try for him. He reminded me of what I wanted to be when I was younger. He seemed like he was good kid, had morals, maybe even a dog. I'd protect the slightly naive shine to him for a while if I could. I'd take that responsibility.

I was knocked out of my musings when I was suddenly supporting almost all of the idiot's weight. '_Shiiit. Where does he live?'_

"Rust! Rusty, where do you live man?"

"Cyprus Rhodes College."

"Ugh! No Rusty, what building?"

"Hon'rs student building, engineering floor."

And with that I was holding on to a very unconcious teen.

'_Couldn't have told me what room number it was?'_

I lifted the boy over my shoulder, a little surprised at how light he was. he was probably lighter that his sister, which was odd. After getting him situated I left for the dorms on campus. When I finally got there, I was a little repulsed. The building was dingy and the remnants of grafitti were still showing. Looking at it, I was a little annoyed. I know I've played pranks on the honors students, but I never went so far as to attack the dorms. Trying to let it roll off, I went into the lobby.

Inside there were three students studying on couches. Two of them were so absorbed in their studies they didn't even notice me come in, and the other one glanced up for barely a second before returning to his book. I figured he was the best bet for figuring out where Rusty lived.

"Hey you, can I ask you something?"

"What?" Was the annoyed reply I received.

"Which one is the Polymer Science floor?

"Why? Want to play a prank on them?"

"No, I need to return a drunken rusher."

He hadn't looked up from his book until then, but when he looked up, he did it so fast his glasses almost fell off. He looked like he hadn't slept in weeks, with his hair mussed so much it must be styled like that.

"Is that Rusty Cartwright?"

"Yeah, you know him?"

"Yeah, he's my room mate. What did you do to him? He was perfectly fine when he left this evening!"

I was annoyed. Here I go doing one of my first good things, and now I was being berated by an irate freshmen.

"I didn't do anything. He got drunk all on his own." Which was mostly true. "I was being nice by dropping him off. I didn't need to."

"Then don't! I don't want him conned into doing your homework, chores, or any favors for you sexual deviants. If he gets into trouble again, you call me. I'll make sure he's okay."

"Dude, chill out. I didn't ask anything from him. I took him back because I used to know his sister. Plus we don't ask any favors from rushes until they become pledges." '_After that, all bets are off.'_

"Well whatever. Hand him over, I can take it from here."

I wanted to mess with him. He seemed like the type to get riled up pretty easily.

"No. I don't know if you're his actual room mate. From the way you act, you could be some psycho stalker."

Said crazy room mate waved his hands in front of himself as if to ward off the accusation.

"No way man, I'm just the kid's room mate."

"Well, then show me to your room."

A resigned huff was the only thing he could come up with. We were on the third floor before I knew it, and unlocking the door and showing me in was about as hospitable as he was going to get, from the impression he gave off.

I looked to Rusty's side of the room and saw a few pictures of him and Casey and one picture of him with a guy, probably his friend from home or something. There was much of anything in the room, but there were a few posters, the classic Einstien with his tounge out, and a few action figures. Really, could Rusty be anymore of a kid?

As gently as I could I dropped him on the bed. Moving to his feet, I took off his shoes. Once I managed that, I yanked the pants down, made sure the boxers stayed on, all with minimal protest from the room mate. I helped him out of his jacket and and dress shirt before asking the room mate if there were any clothes Rusty slept in.

"Ah, yeah. They're in the chair, he get's pretty cold so he sleeps in sweats."

I grabbed the clothes and manuvered them onto the sleeping fraternity hopeful. It was weird taking care of Casey's brother, but not an awful going to throw up weird, more of an awkward weird. I tucked him in so he wouldn't get cold, like the room mate said he often did. After getting Rusty settled in, I started to leave, but a voice stopped me.

"Thanks for that, I'm not sure I would have been able to do that by myself. He may be light, but he's taller than me, so it would have been difficult."

"Yeah no problem, though you might want a glass of water and a trashcan by his bed just in case."

"Okay." I watched as he moved the trashcan over to Rusty's bed, and grabbed a bottle of water leaving it on the desk.

"Here."

He handed me a card with a number on it. I raised an eyebrow.

"I was serious when I said I'd come get him. He's an okay kid, and while I don't agree with his Greek fascination, I don't want him to get messed up, I mean he's only seventeen. I don't want him caught up in a scene he isn't ready for yet."

He paused for a moment before talking again.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, my name is Dale Kettlewell."

"Uhh, Cappie, I'm the president of Kappa Tau. If he ends up with us, I'll try to call and look out for him, but I can't promise anything."

"That's okay. I just want to try and be there for him, you know? He has this 'Help Me' beacon that flashes all the time, but I guess you know that. You know, since you brought him all the way here, changed his clothes, even tucked him in."

"Ahh.. no. I just took care of him because I owe it to his sister."

Dale looked ready to argue, so I hightailed it out there.

* * *

I was back at the party before I knew it, with drink in hand. It was just about to fizzle down to passed out co-eds and the brothers cleaning it up.

"Alright men, we will convene in the morning with hang overs and lines on our faces, You're dismissed!"

I trotted over to the couch downstairs before it was claimed. I was too tired to think straight and too buzzed to make it upstairs with out tripping. I was annoyed that Dale thought I was taking care of Rusty because of some helpess sign. I might take care of him as a little brother, but it was because I wanted to, not because Rusty made me. Who the hell was I kidding? The teen conned me into it, plus he had Casey, so make it easier for me to like him. I could barely take care of myself, let alone a naive, innocent, and slightly geniused freshman, how would I do it?

* * *

It was afternoon by the time I managed to come around. I patted the table next to me looking for some water, but came away with a pile of post-its. Deciding now was as good as a time as any I woke everyone up.

"Court in now in session! Time for the bids."

There was a chorus of groans coming from everyone.

"Ben Bennett, all in favor?" No one said anything. "Cool name, we'll put a pin in it."

"Rusty Cartwright, all in favor?" A small silence came over the room.

"The spitter?"

That was from Wade and everyone laughed. "Yeah, I like him. He's fun in a lame way. It might be fun to corrupt him, plus he's got the lost kid look going on, girls love that. Any objections?" Once again no one said anything.

_'Looks like I'll be seeing a lot more of the youngest Cartwright. Shouldn't be so bad.'_

I continued on with the names until everyone was finished. I sent everyone with a post-it to deliver the bids. I took Rusty's myself, as I slipped it under the door and knocked before leaving. On my way out I saw Dale, he looked confused. I just smiled and walked out. Maybe helping the young Cartwright wouldn't be so bad, it might even earn me points with Casey.I could try out the responsibility, plus if it didn't work out, I wouldn't have initiate him.

* * *

**So, how was it? There will be slash later on for sure, but I want it to be believable. Review maybe? Puh-lease? P.s. Thanks for reading.  
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	2. Evan's Trouble

**A/N: If you didn't re-read the first chapter I suggeast doing so. I'm taking a lot of liberties with this chapter, but the basic idea will be there. Also whenever I do anything on Rusty it will be 3rd person POV. I'm not sure why, but I like it that way better.**

* * *

When Rusty woke up his head was pounding, and his mouth felt like it was full of cotton. While trying to resist the call of sleep, he blearily tried to remember how he'd ended up in his own bed. The absolute worst idea he'd ever had was opening his eyes to the blinding light of the afternoon.

"Urrgh..." Rusty grabbed his head trying to ease out the pain.

"Hey there, drunky." Dale smirked at his room mate's misfortune. Instead of closing the blinds like any normal person, Dale pulled them up the rest of the way.

"Daaaale, c'mon. I'd didn't mean to, lower the blinds please."

"You didn't mean to? I didn't _mean_ to pull the blinds. Just like I'm sure you didn't _mean _to make the Kappa Tau president take you home."

"What? Who brought me home?" Rusty tried to to sit up, but couldn't quiet yet.

"I think his name was Cappie. He brought you back, changed your clothes, and tucked you in. Don't worry though, I made sure his hands didn't stray."

Rusty was mortified. The president of a house he might pledge for had changed his clothes, and _God _he'd tucked him in. "_What kind of idiot am I?"_ That was the thought running through his head when Dale told him he'd gotten two bids, but that changed when his head snapped up.

"What! I got _two_? I wasn't even expecting one." Rusty grabbed at the papers in Dale's hand. One was a nice heavy card with with embossed lettering and the other was a slightly crumpled, fuzzy post-it note. Both telling him he'd have a bid to join if he showed up tonight. He was confused, he thought he'd made an ass of himself at the Kappa Tau house. And the Omega Chi house was... Oh.. Oh. Damn. Suddenly everything came rushing back.

Rusty looked around for anything to quell the headache he had and spotted the asprin and water by his bed. Downing them quickly and changing clothes he told Dale he was leaving.

"Where you going, Rusty?"

"I have to talk to my sister about last night."

"You could talk to me, I've been known to be a good moral adviser."

"Can't, this is about Casey's boyfriend cheating on her." Rusty was glad he'd told him when Dale shut up long enough for him to leave, and soon as he did, Dale was forming a plan to save Evan's immortal soul.

* * *

He was dreading trying to talk to Casey. One of them being the ZBZ house, because he still felt the sting of Casey's rage for going inside. The other, the unsteady ground his relationship he had with his sister could crumble if he did this wrong. He really didn't want his sister to hate him, he missed being friends with her. He found himself standing on the front lawn, when a hand grabbed his shoulder.

"Hey Rusty, I think it's time I had a talk with my girlfriend's little brother." The hand on his shoulder belonged to none other than to the Evan Chambers. He was so screwed.

"Ah ha, I'm a little busy. Maybe we could do this some other time. I kind of wanted to ask Casey something." Rusty was squirming under the tight grip.

"Really? Well you can talk to her later. We can go to Dobbler's and talk, loads." Evan draped his arm over Rusty's shoulder and led him to his car. It was a sleek thing, totally expected of a Chambers. Evan opened the passenger door and nodded at Rusty to get in.

The trip to Dobbler's was awkward. It was silent, tense, and plain creepy. It was a relief to finally get to the Greek supporting bar and Rusty practically fell out of the car trying to escape the awkwardness. Evan once again took hold of Rusty's shoulder, but this time a bit lighter, and guided him into the bar. The bar was mostly empty save for a few devoted patrons. Two of them looked vaguely familiar, but Rusty couldn't remember exactly where he'd seen them.

"So, what'd you want to talk to Casey about?" He could tell Evan was feeling out what he knew, and it bothered him.

"Oh you know, last night's happenings. I mean imagine how surprised she'll be when she finds out I received two bids." Evan actually looked a little shocked at that, maybe unnerved?

"Really? I know we offered, but who else." Rusty was quick to answer. "Kappa Tau." Evan looked plain annoyed at that. He asked if Rusty had decided yet.

"Yeah... Maybe. It depends on if you're planning to tell Casey about last night."

Rusty watched as Evan tensed. Watched as he turned his hands into fists and gritted his teeth. "What about last night?" Was the terse reply.

"I saw you and that girl last night. I have to tell Casey if you won't."

Evan groaned. This wasn't the way it was supposed to go. The kid shouldn't have seen anything, and if he had, he should have taken the bribe.

"You said all of that stuff last night. Think about it. We could be your brothers if you don't do anything about this. It was a one time deal, and I'll never let it happen again. I don't even know what happened to me last night."

"I know, but she's my sister. She's been my sister all my life and will be until I die. You guys will only be my brothers from initiation and onwards. I owe her, you owe it to her." Evan slammed his hands on the bar, gathering a little bit of attention.

"Listen here, she doesn't care about you. She never even told anyone she had a brother. You don't owe her anything. You owe me for pulling every string I had to get you a bid for Omega Chi."

It hurt Rusty to think that someone else besides him thought that about his sister. It also hurt to think no one wanted him at Omega Chi, but not nearly as much. With out replying to Evan's outburst, he got up to leave. A hand shot out and held onto his elbow before he could leave first. It was a painful grip, but he ignored it when he saw the desperation on Evan's face.

"Please, what do you want? Money? Position? I can guarantee an in at Omega Chi, you wouldn't have to worry about pledge duties. Please, what do you want?" It was tempting offer, Rusty would admit that, but he could never take it.

"I can't, but I think you should tell Casey. It would be a lot better coming from you." And with that Evan roughly shoved him away, and turned to sit back at the bar. A little startled, but not injured Rusty tapped him on the shoulder.

"In case you didn't notice, I formally decline Omega Chi's bid." And as fast as Evan had caught his arm last time, this was even faster.

"Listen here you little freak, you don't reject us, we reject you." Having finally noticed everyone in the bar staring Evan upped the volume. "If you think we were serious you're sorely mistaken. It was all a joke. We never thought anyone would actually take you, so we were going to make you a pledge and then refuse initiation." With that he let go of Rusty's arm and stared.

Once again stinging from the scathing tone, Rusty didn't know what came over him, but all he could see was red. He didn't know if what he did next was to defend his honor, his sister's, or if a bunch of angry dead college students possessed him, but he was shocked. There was a pledge paddle on the table next to him, obviously getting things set up for the Bid Night party, so he grabbed it. It was heavier than he expected, but he still managed to get a decent swing in at Evan's face.

Unfortunately Evan saw it coming. He managed to avoid most of it, but his nose was hit hard enough to start bleeding. "Son of a bitch!" Evan grabbed his nose and looked at the blood on his hands. Quickly before anyone could stop him he threw a punch into Rusty's face. And anyone can tell you, when someone is less than half the size of the other person, and said giant punches them, they go down. Hard. Everyone was still, too shocked to move. Even Evan looked a little shocked.

Rusty got up faster than he looked ready to. An angry look flowed over his features, and pulled back a fist and let loose. All over Evan's face. The punch wasn't hard, well not hard enough to hurt him permanently. With that the bartender was finally galvanized into action. He pulled Evan away, sat him down at the bar, and put a drink in his line of vision. He turned back around looking for the gutsy kid, but didn't see anyone, and he noticed the door closing.

* * *

Rusty had high tailed it out of the bar before anyone could put him in jail for assaulting a Chambers. The pain from the punch wasn't as bad as it could have been, but when it combined with the headache he had, he nearly saw stars. The long walk back to Greek row was awful, but he managed. He needed to tell Casey before Evan could say anything, so there he was standing outside the ZBZ door waiting for Casey to show up.

When he heard the foot steps behind him, he turned around. Casey was annoyed that her brother was standing outside her home, but when he turned and she saw the black eye forming it flew from her mind. "Rusty! What happened?" She rushed forward and turned his face towards her,

"Never mind that Casey, I need to talk to you about Evan." She continued fussing, ignoring his objections. Fed up he grabbed her hands.

"Casey! Listen, I saw Evan and some girl last night. They were about to have sex."

"No they weren't, I'm sure you misunderstood." Rusty quickly objected. "I know what I saw."

"Then you're lying." He looked hard at her. The gaze slightly off due to the rapidly swelling eye. "When have I ever lied to you?"

Casey looked devastated and angry. She wanted to yell at him, but it wasn't his fault. Well not really, but it helped to blame him. "I don't think I can look at you right now. I have to go." She scurried into the house, leaving her brother outside.

Rusty sighed, clearly upset. He checked his watch and saw that he didn't have enough time to go back and change before the party at Kappa Tau. Because while upset about Casey and his whole day in general, he really wanted to join Kappa Tau. He set off for the slightly debilitated looking house on the Greek row. With the thought that maybe things would pick up later on he arrived at his destination.

While being early was always a horrible trait of his, he didn't mean to do it this time. So reluctantly he knocked on the door. Unsure if he'd actually be welcomed in. The door was yanked open and a shocked face was what greeted him. "Spitter, you look like hell."

* * *

**AN: I know that the bar fight didn't happen like this, but I want it to go this way, so yeah... Well did you like it? Slash soon, hopefully. A little nervous because I've never written it before.**


	3. Cappie's Reaction

**AN: Well this has almost nothging to do with an actual episode of Greek, but that's okay. It'd be boring otherwise. A little more slashy than the others maybe? Anyways, I hope you like it, I worked for a good chapter. Also, the Wade Beaver OOC thing. I don't think they'd actually be much different than this, they seem to be the time to help when you're down and unable to really take care of yourself, so yeah, that's it. Thanks for reading.**

* * *

I was in a good mood

I was in a good mood. I didn't have a massive hang over and I'd completed my task for the day. Well at least until the party for the future pledges tonight. I still had a few things to clean, but not right now. Right now I was heading to the student café. Coffee was an essential for my day to be complete.

It was when I had the coffee in hand, that I spotted a familiar blonde. She was sitting alone looking through what I could only call a day planner, but it had notes and pages sticking out all over it. Before she spotted me and moved, I sat down next to her. Obviously surprised, her reaction of jumping was adequate, though I hoped for a squeak.

"Hey there Cartwright, how goes life?" She sighed like I was draining her already, and told me. "Not now Cappie, I don't have time for your games."

"Awe, you wound me! What could be better than talking to me?" She sighed once again before submitting to the inevitable.

"I'm trying to find time for someone. I'm very busy already, so can you just leave."

"Who are you finding time for? Evan?" I hoped not, especially from what Rusty was saying. I wanted to tell her, but I wasn't apart of her life anymore. She wasn't in my life either.

"It's none of your business." She said with a huff.

"Fair enough, how about something that is though? We dated over a year and a half and you never told me you had a brother, what about that? I was slightly miffed about it still."

"I, I didn't know you would find out about him. I thought no one would find out about him." Shock was clearly running over her features and maybe a little regret.

"That's not a very good excuse, you know."

"I know, but I just wanted away from Rusty and his perfectness. It wasn't exactly the best plan I ever had." She rubbed her hands over her face. Suddenly looking up she asked. "How did you know about him anyway?"

"He came to Rush." It was simple.

"He did? I thought he was going to be smart enough to listen to me."

"Why don't you want him to rush? I thought you would be all for it." I was a little confused.

"Normally I would, but Rusty is different. If he didn't get in, I think the disappointment would really affect him. He'd probably fail a test, freak out and study so hard he'd get sick, go to the doctor and pick up pneumonia, not go to the hospital and die, all because he wouldn't listen to me." She looked a little intense as I tried not laugh.

"Is that really what you think?" She said no. "Good because Kappa Tau gave him a bid." I could tell she was still worried, but a little pride flashed through her face.

"Just don't get his hopes up, if you're going to let him down." It was the only thing she said before her phone vibrated in her purse. A muffled curse after checking the ID and she was quickly gathering her things.

"Who was that?" She gave up any resistance she once had in refusing to answer.

"I missed Rusty's call a half hour ago, and if he really did rush last night than he'll want to talk in person. The last time he came to visit, he nearly got arrested by campus security for sneaking into the ZBZ house when he saw a bunch of girls in their underwear."

"Impressive, at least for someone with no formal training." She just shook her head, exasperated at my thoughts.

"I have to go." She paused. "It was okay talking to you again." With that she left to go see her brother.

All alone with no one to talk to was boring, so I left. The walk through the quad was alright, but it was dampened by my desire to not clean the house. Eventually though, I made it back to Kappa Tau. As soon as I entered the house I was disappointed. There was no magical elf that cleaned the mess left behind from last night.

Reluctantly, I started to clean. As president, I also delegated the chores to everyone I saw, which meant I wouldn't be seeing very many people. In fact, there was one outside the window right now. Calling him back in, I felt renewed, it was always fun being the boss. At least there wasn't much to clean, because I hated having a perfectly clean house, it reminded me of the summer I spent with Evan's family.

Just as I sat down on the slightly filthy couch two people burst into the room. I snapped my head to attention, before noticing it was just Wade and Beaver. They looked particularly excited and smug; in fact they were nearly jumping. My eyes narrowed automatically in suspicion. "What did you do?" It was out before I could stop it.

"_We_ didn't do anything, but we saw something done that's for sure." It was Wade who spoke.

"Fine, what did you see happen, that you had no part in." The squeal Beaver let out surprised me, because he only squeals for Grey's Anatomy, boobs, and violence. "No you really have to tell me."

"Evan Chambers was just in a bar fight, and he lost!" The Beaver's shout was nearly lost on me. Evan Chambers was in a bar fight, and I missed it? And he _lost_?

"No way is the universe that cruel. Not allowing me to see that is like, refusing kittens milk. I need my bar fight!" Upset didn't even begin to cover how I was feeling. Wade interrupted my wallowing.

"We got it on the cell phone's video camera though." Before Wade could register what was happening I was going through his pockets for the phone. "Hey! Watch it, that wasn't my phone!" Locating the device I pulled it out, and started to find the video. As I was about to press play, a sudden thought came to mind. Without even looking up, I asked about it.

"Who was he fighting with?" They both looked a little sheepish at that.

"See that's the thing… It was with Spitter, you know the kid from last night?" My head shot up of its own accord. "What?" The words hissed from my mouth.

"Yeah, Evan dragged him into Dobbler's and started talking. Next thing I know they're shouting and Spitter tries to leave, but Evan won't let him." Wade tried to play it out for me. Switching all of my attention to the phone in my hand I pressed play.

I watched as the comparatively massive Evan Chambers grabbed the thin arm, watched as harsh words were said, I watched as Chambers shoved the scrawny boy away, and I watched as the idiotic freshman didn't leave but tapped the much larger man on the shoulder to say something. I sat down when Evan's hand gripped the frail looking arm once again, and listened to the hurtful things that were said. The flash of pain that stole across the younger boy's face caused some sort of fleeting in me that I did not enjoy.

I jumped up when the smug bastard was hit in the face with his own pledge's paddle, but I gripped the phone tightly when he countered with a punch. Rusty didn't get up before the phone cut off. It was an uncomfortable feeling that swept through me when that happened.

"What happened after the phone cut off?" Beaver was quick to answer, as he looked warily at me.

"The kid was down for a few seconds, but he shot up suddenly and decked the guy. I mean it wasn't hard or anything, but if it didn't get iced it would bruise. After that the bartender got Evan to sit down and chill out. Spitter just turned tail and bolted out the door. Me an' Wade didn't even have time to pay the bill before he was long gone."

I was in shock. I mean how often does something like this happen? I wanted to know why they didn't help the future pledge out. And I asked them that very question. "Well, we didn't know it would escalate like that. I only started recording in case Evan got caught in a compromising position, you know? After it started to get a bit intense, I guess we just froze. It was kind of like watching a fish slap a hungry bear."

We stood there a moment before someone knocked on the door. A little confused, I stepped over to open it. A head full of curly brown hair was visible through the glass. '_Rusty?' _

I snatched the door open and the sight that greeted me was pitiful. The poor freshman's face was swollen under the eye but not so much that it blocked his vision, just obscuring it lightly. The clothes he was wearing were scuffed and a little ripped at the bottom, God knows how. I caught sight of his elbow and was shocked; it seemed he was always doing that to me. There was a rapidly darkening bruise there. It was already mottled different colors of blue and purple. "Spitter, you look like hell." It was out of my mouth before I could stop it, even if it was the truth.

"Ah, yeah… There was this fight you see." He tried to explain, but I silenced him by holding up my hand.

"I already know. Wade and Beaver were there." I pulled him into the house, maneuvered him into the living room, and sat him on the couch.

"They even got most of it on the cell phone's camera."

"Really, how did it look?" He had a shy grin on his face when he asked that.

"It looked like you were hit in the face really hard." His head dipped forward and his shoulders hunched over. "But it looked pretty cool when you Hit Evan's face with the paddle."

"Ah yeah, I didn't mean to, well I did, but it wasn't really… I uh, I don't know what came over me?"

Wade and Beaver were watching him, kind of amazed. Suddenly The Beaver sat down and grabbed his shoulder. "What was it like hitting him with the paddle?"

"Good?" It was Rusty's confused answer that made all of us roar with laughter. I clapped him on the shoulder. But it startled him and he bumped his elbow against the arm of the couch. He hissed a bit and gingerly held hid the injured limb. We quickly stopped laughing. It was one thing to laugh if someone fell down, but this was just too different.

I maneuvered him so I could get a good look at the bruising. He gave a protest that was silenced when Wade, Beaver, and I all gave him the "Do What Your Told Look". I ran my fingers across the colors, gently prodding and poking, checking reactions, and bending it and un-bending it. The bright purple that stood out against the stark paleness that Rusty had, was disturbing. It made me angry; I once again didn't like the uncomfortable feelings I've been having since I met this boy.

"Well it looks like you'll live to see another day, but you should probably ice it, and try to keep from putting too much pressure on it. I think when he grabbed you, he pinched a nerve, but it should be alright in a few days." As I said that Beaver went into the kitchen, probably to get some ice. '_No matter how he acts around others, he's a pretty good brother to have when you're down and out.'_

"How do you know about that kind of thing?" Rusty questioned as he held his arm close to his body.

I leaned back into my seat and stretched my arms across the back of the couch. "I was pre-med for a while." Rusty's face was shining curiosity, but before he could ask questions Beaver was back with the ice. Gently as he could, he set the ice up and made Rusty prop his arm on the arm of the couch.

The youngest Cartwright looked like he was going to relax until his face switched to alert. "What about the Bid party tonight? Don't you guys have to get ready for that?"

"Nah, we don't set up. The only thing that needed to be done has been.

These things are just a formality, basically we just have you guys come in and tell us something about yourselves, and then we make you go home." I just happened to leave out the part where we make you leave in your underwear, and the part when you tell us things about yourself and if they aren't interesting, we make you drink pickle, lime, and tomato juice. We are a fraternity after all.

"I completely forgot. I didn't even ask if it was okay if I came early, I'll just go wait somewhere else. I am so sorry." Rusty was getting up and trying to leave, but Wade would have none of it, well neither would I, but I knew the others would take care of it.

Wade gently pushed Rusty back into his seat. "Hey man, you're fine where you are. You punched Evan Chambers, I'm sure no one would mind if you got here a little early. Plus, you're only like forty-five minutes early." Reluctantly Spitter took the proffered invitation and waited. Well we all waited, and talked, and waited a little while longer, and finally the time came for the others to arrive.

"Alright you new pledges, time to listen up. Tonight will be the first night of brotherhood for you. We do not take this lightly, so be warned. We would like to know a few things about you, so we'll start with Ben Bennett." I pointed to the slightly afroed boy in the front.

"A well, I'm from Wisconsin?" The full fledged brothers hissed in disappointment.

"It seems I have forgotten to mention that for every boring fact you give about yourself, we make you drink the Nectar Of Brotherhood." I paused long enough for it to sink in. "Bring out the drink!"

It was brought out on a tray surrounded by dirt and leaves. The glass was tall and nearly full, but the creepiest thing about it was it looked like blood I just hope it makes someone throw up the go round. I looked at Ben, and I could say he looked put off by it, very put off.

"Well, drink up Ben Bennett." He did and the dry heaves were great. We'd have to use that exact ratio again next time. Subtly looking around, I spotted the one person I had wanted in my house above all others. He looked happy, and the bruise on his face looked like it wasn't going to swell anymore, and right before I looked away he caught my eye. As the freshman's face lit up in a smile, I swear it was like looking at Casey. Because that's the only reason my heart would race, right? Right?

* * *

**Well, did you like it it? Yay, or Nay?**


	4. Gard of Drag?

**AN: Hmm I had a lot of trouble getting this one out. I don't know why... well I do know why. Mostly I was reading manga and affected my writing. Can you tell? I see Rusty bowing a few times in this one, you know out of apology or something. I would like to give a Super Duper Hi to PDOTL. She was really nice, and answered my questions. And she also pointed out the spelling and grammar mistakes I made, so thanks very much!  
**

* * *

I had gathered the sparkling new pledges at the Kappa Tau house for brother bonding. It was always the day after the bid party that we had the bonding ceremony. Well, not so much a bonding ceremony as a humiliation party. We would take the new little brothers out to a public place and have them conform to ridiculous demands, like barking on command, or wearing drag. That one was my favorite, or well it was.

Right now I'm standing in front of the most non-ugly boy girl I've ever seen come from my own house. It was weird, seeing Rusty in a dress was like seeing any other girl in a dress, he looked so much like one it was creepy. His skin was soft looking,and with the big doe eyes and blonde wig it was hard to think of him as a drag wearing pledge. I must have been looking a little too intently at him because he hit my shoulder.

"I know I look weird, so stop staring!" He crossed his arms and huffed, it made me laugh.

"Ah, you don't look that weird. It's just that you look too much like a girl. This is supposed to embarrass you, not me, being seen with you is really weird." I rubbed the back of my neck as I looked around Dobbler's.

"Oh man! Not now!" Rusty tried to duck down in front of me, so I turned to get a look at what was getting him into such a twist, but he grabbed my shirt.

"No, don't look, Evan and Casey just came in. I don't want them to see me." I twisted my head ignoring his complaint, I accidently made eye contact with Casey. With his chances already ruined, I looked at Evan. I had a hard time not laughing because his nose was blotted with purple and green bruising, he looked ridiculous. I was oh so very proud of my little pledge.

"No dice little man. they're coming over." I received a whine before he let go of my shirt.

"Don't worry, act like you're not Rusty. You look so different they might not even notice." He mumbled something I couldn't hear. "What was that?"

"I said Casey would know. I dressed up like this for this one Halloween and she happen to be home that week for something." His head hung low over his chest. I stood still a moment before breaking out into laughter.

"That actually seems to be your luck. Did you do it on purpose or were you dared?" Before Rusty could answer a lilting voice broke in.

"Dared to do what, Cappie?" It was Casey, and she obviously hadn't seen Rusty, so as the good big brother that I am, I moved out of the way.

"Rusty! What would mom and dad say if they saw you now?" Rusty just smiled a shy smile.

"Same thing they said last time? That I'm a good person, trying to find out what it means to be objectified as a woman?" Casey grimaced.

"Ah, I forgot about that. They really don't think you can do anything wrong do they." Casey stared down her little brother after saying that.

"Ehem." My gaze jerked to the person at her side. It looked like Evan had gotten tired of just listening, and Casey must have just realized it.

"Ah, Rusty there was a reason we came here. I know you and Evan got into it yesterday, but since both of you are going to be in my life now, I want you two to get a long." Casey looked to Evan and narrowed her eyes. He just sighed.

"Yeah, I understand where you were coming from. I totally deserved it. I just wanted to apologize and say that maybe we could be friends." I watched as he held out his hand. It annoyed me, because as long as I've known him he's never done anything like this. It was all to fake, just to get back into Casey's good graces.

"Mmhm, okay. I guess so." Rusty reached out and shook the other's hand, but before he pulled away Evan pulled him close and said something to him. I didn't hear it, but the expression on the younger male's face bothered me. It had a little bit of fear etched with annoyance, and with the color from the black eye, it just wasn't right. I quickly grabbed a couple shots of tequila off of the tray passing by and handed them to Evan and my new little brother.

"How about we celebrate." Rusty tried to protest. "Ah, no argument, drink up." And he did, he also spit it out all over Evan, Casey and myself. The beauty of it was bittersweet.

"Oh I'm sorry! I've never had tequila before! I, I didn't know." I guess Rusty's a bit better at lying than I thought he was, or he honestly didn't remember drinking it before.

"Well now that everything is settled, we can move on. Come Rusty we have the brother bonding to complete." I grabbed his shoulders and steered him away, nodding to Casey and glaring at Evan. '_Bastard thinks he can fix it with, that?'_

I was was talking to Rusty, trying out my opening up technique for the ladies, when all of a sudden this hand latches onto the small of Rusty's back. My eyes shot to the person attached to said groping appendage. It was a man and by the looks of it only slightly drunk, definitely not enough to mistake Rusty for a girl. '_Does he really look that much like a girl?'_

Before I could help out, Rusty shied away from the touch. "What do you think you're doing?" Unfortunately his voice was an octave higher due to shock. The touchy feely guy just smirked.

"I'm talking to a lovely lady. Why, what'd you think I was doing." The guy reached out and pulled Rusty close. "My name's Charlie, what's yours?"

That was it. No way, Charlie. No one man handles my pledge, certainly not some drunken frat boy with a poorly grown soul patch. I grabbed my newly appointed little brother and safely put him behind me, I wasn't taking a chance with Mr. Feel You Up getting his paws on the freshman again. "Back off, _Charlie._ This one's not interested, so shove off." Rusty threw in an enthusiastic "Yeah!" Before I stepped on his feet.

"Hey man, I'm not doin' anything wrong. If anything it's you, I've been watching you guys all night. You're always grabbin' an' shovin'. Just now you stepped on her feet, she's even got a black eye. You give her that as well?" He was breathing hard after all that, and I was just standing still. I was surprised that he thought I did those things, and even more surprised a fully sober person thought Rusty was a girl. Rusty stepped in front of me before _Charlie_ could get even more worked up.

"It's alright, he didn't do anything. This black eye is from someone else, and when he was shoving him, he was getting me away from the guy who did it, so really, it's alright. Thank you for your concern, but I'm actually a guy. This is just a pledge tradition, and I'm sorry to have misled you."

I watched as Charlie gaped, completely astounded that the small freshman was in fact a male. It was really amusing when he stumbled into a table and had to hold himself upright. However it wasn't so funny when he started to talk. "Oh wow, you're like the prettiest girl I've ever seen. Do you think I could get your number anyway?"

I didn't want Rusty to answer so I lightly pushed him towards the door. "Better luck when you're sober _Charlie._" I guided us out the door, so I wouldn't have to talk to him anymore. We were getting into my, heh, Jeep, when Rusty started to talk.

"That was pretty weird. I've had a guy come onto me once, but never when I was wearing a dress." Hearing him say it like that it was a lot funnier. I don't know why I over reacted.

"Yeah, I guess so. You better get used to pick up lines though, all the girls will be all over you." I looked at him one more time before turning away to watch the road. "The guys too if you keep dressing like that." He just punched me in the arm.

* * *

There was an annoying light coming from somewhere in the corner of my room and it was trying to blind me, even though my eyes were closed. Mumbling I rolled over and pulled a pillow over my head. It was way too early to have to get up, I mean it was, wait what time was it? I poked my head out from under the pillow for a second to look at the clock. It was only 3 o'clock in the afternoon... '_Son of a bitch!' _

I jumped out of bed and trotted to the bathroom. I don't know why I needed get up, but I just needed to get up. Plus I had to pee like a race horse. After taking care of business and showering, I walked down stairs to try and find something in the house's surprisingly clean kitchen.

As I was searching for something someone came in from the back yard. I didn't look up until they tried to shut the fridge's door. My protest was cut off when I saw it was Beaver. I raised an eyebrow to question his motive.

"We made the pledges make lunch. We cleared everything out, so I doubt you'll find anything. There are a bunch of us outside if you want to join. We've got beer, burgers, and while lacking babes, we have pledges and permanent markers at the ready." Beaver was smiling. I was really glad he was enjoying this year's batch. Last year's was hardly any good, we only took one to initiation.

"Yeah, I think I will join. I could go for some beer, and I happen to think I'm channeling some Picasso. Hope they don't have classes tomorrow." With that we went outside.

Looking around I spotted my favorite pledge, he was talking with whom I could only assume was Ben Bennett. He hadn't seen me yet, but it wasn't a big deal. Seeing them talk reminded me that since we had brother bonding last night, we needed to have pledge bonding tonight. Grabbing a burger I went to find Wade.

"We need to do the pledge bonding tonight." I said it without preamble. He looked confused for a second, but quickly caught up.

"Okay, what's the theme tonight?" I thought about it for a few minutes. "300, we can have them spend the night out here." I nodded in satisfaction at my own idea. As I did though, I saw the poor state of the backyard. "They should probably weed and do some light gardening too."

"I'll make the plans, it shouldn't be too hard to find the costumes. I know someone in the Rec. department, they can probably help." I just gave an affirmative and walked away. It seemed like Rusty had finished talking to his new friend. Discreetly as possible I walked over to the unsuspecting freshman and clapped him on the shoulder. I laughed when he jumped and whirled around.

"What was that for?" The glare really didn't fit his face very well.

"Just for fun. Thought I'd come over see how everything was." I definitely puzzled him, what with the sudden inquiry.

"Everything is fine. My room mate freaked out when I told him about last night. Started praying for everyone's soul, and trying to avoid damning himself by staying my room mate."

"Sounds about right, at least from what you've said about him." I glanced at him briefly before watching the others interact. "Do you have classes soon?"

"Yeah, I have a class tomorrow morning. It's a physics class, pre-requisit and everything." Hearing that I felt bad for making the bonding time tonight, but he needed to learn how to juggle school and fraternity duties.

"Well, good luck with that. Morning classes suck." I checked my watch before talking again, well really yelling.

"Alright, listen up! Tonight we're having you pledges over so you can bond within your ranks, so get here around ten. If you're late, punishment for everyone." After saying that, I grabbed all the food along with Beaver and moved it indoors. I nodded to one of the brothers standing by the door. He turned the hose on them, forcing them to jump the fence to get away. Yup, it was good being boss.

* * *

When we'd gotten the costumes on, and everyone assembled it was nearly mid-night. Making them wait for two hours was a tactic of tourture passed down from many a Kappa Tau presidents before me. We walked into the backyard and a hush fell over the pledges.

I started spouting trival things I'd seen from the movie, only to have Rusty but in with the truth. I was starting to get annoyed, and he could tell because he shut up pretty fast when I turned a glare onto him. They had gotten the full lecture and were starting to get the gardening supplies when Rusty pulled me aside.

"Do we really have to stay out here all night?" He looked a little desperate.

"Yeah, you do. And you better pull your weight Spitter. You don't want these guys looking down on you, they're your future brothers." I tried to leave it at that, in hopes he'd let it go, but he held on to it like a dog.

"I know that, but I was talking with one of them and when he found out my major, he made it seem like I was diseased. What if... Never mind. I'm sorry, I'll let you go." Now that had me a little worried, he didn't usually seem so defeated.

"No, tell me what it is." He just looked up with his sad puppy eyes, and it took all my will power not to cave.

"It just seemed like I was back in high school and I was going to get bullied once again, but I shouldn't let it get to me. I'm in college now, and I should be over it now." I wanted to tell him that no one here would do that, but I could about that.

"Hey, as long as I'm here I'll watch out for it, but you need to trust them. If you don't how can they get to know you're weird little self?" I wrapped my arm around his shoulder in a slight hug. "Now get out there and garden." I shoved him forward, and watched for a few minutes as he tried to get along with his pledge mates. _'He'll be fine.'_

I went up to my room a few hours later to go to sleep.

* * *

I woke up with the alarm screaming in my ear. It was eight o'clock, time to let the pledges go, if they hadn't already left. I rolled out of bed and looked out my window. It seemed the only pledge left was mine. _'Damn.'_

I went down the stairs two at a time. There didn't seem to be anyone else awake, so I was a little quieter than usual. I made it outside and in front of the slumbering youngster in no time. I reached down and shook him awake.

"Whuh, huh?" That was his intelligent response. He looked up at me, confused for a moment before shooting up. It let me get a good look at him, and it was hard not laughing. He had a uni brow drawn on, dirty smudges, and blue dyed feet.

"Seems the tradition of picking on the first person to fall asleep wasn't lost this year." He tried to get a good look at everything but gave up.

"What time is it?"

"A little after eight. What time is your class?"

"Nine, I need to go! I'll see you later Cappie!" As he left I saw the cut out pieces of sweat pants, and nearly died trying not to laugh. Poor kid wasn't going to have a good day. Especially if his classes were on the science side of campus. He wouldn't have time to do anything, but race there, and pray he got there on time.

I went inside and made a cup of strong coffee. Taking small sips to counter act the heat, and smiled. It was going to get very interesting with this young Cartwright around. It already had, and I've only known the kid for a few days.

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**Did you like it? Well, if you did Yay! If not, I'm sorry. -Bows- Maybe next time? Thanks for reading!**


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